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UPDATED: Reuters spreads Alex Saab's disinformation re Libre Abordo
UPDATED 22:19 | The Chinese virus must be affecting Reuters' editorial desks in Brazil and Mexico.
Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time and effort. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, pls have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers: do the right thing, the honest thing, support independent investigative journalism. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using INFODIO's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui at gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies. The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited. Note added 12/06/2026: infodio.com has not created mirror websites / domains and remains totally independent and unrelated to others. Beware of websites using our brand.
alex saab
[UPDATED] Libre Abordo: Mex shell controlled by Alex Saab comes to PDVSA / Maduro's rescue
UPDATE 08/05/2020 - 09:55 GMT | Alex Saab adventures into oil aren't new. There was a time when he had to make use of "decent" intermediaries, like Jean Paul Rivas, in energy trading attempts. No more. U.S. Treasury sanctions have pushed PDVSA into Saab's arms. He is no longer toxic. His characteristic stench goes undetected in the company of Nicolas Maduro, Cilia, and Tareck el Aisami: Venezuela's new oil minister.
Venezuela's opposition protect Alex Saab
"...Ratificamos igualmente, que la unica fiscal general de la república en Venezuela se llama Luisa Ortega Diaz..." Assemblywoman Delsa Solorzano, 7 August 2017. Then, there's this session, when Julio Borges (current "presidential commissioner for foreign relations" for Juan Guaido) welcomed Luisa Ortega Diaz to Venezuela's Assembly (this was prior to his escape to Colombia, after a car he was in ran over a child that subsequently died).
Italy's Guardia di Finanza seizes Alex Saab, lover Camilla Fabri laundered money
This site can report that both Alex Saab and Abelardo de la Espriella are persons of interest for U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and DEA. Given his partnership with Rubio (Pulido Vargas) and Cordoba, Saab has been under scrutiny for quite some time. Saab, who left for Rome just before the recent Colombian probe was announced in late September, has also become a person of interest for Italy's financial watchdog.
Indicted by DoJ, sanctioned by Treasury, Alex Saab's corruption to test Ivan Duque's gov
Yesterday, Treasury sanctioned Alex Saab, while a DoJ's Grand Jury in South Florida indicted him and partner-in-crime Alvaro Pulido Vargas a/k/a German Rubio (see indictment below). This site took an interest in Alex Saab back in July 2013. I recall having been in touch with Ecuadorian journalist Gabriela Quiroz in the course of my research. At the time, Saab was involved in a multimillion-dollar racket with SUCRE, a regional currency exchange mechanism set up by Hugo Chavez and his socialist allies.
Colombia's Justice catches up with Alex Saab, DEA follows...
Much before Reuters "discovered" in an "exclusive" some of the corruption associated with Alex Saab, his Colombian lawyer, Abelardo de la Espriella, went to battle with Revista Semana, one of Colombia's most prestigious political affairs magazine.
Did PDVSA give TRENACO a $20bn contract?
The email came from a fellow journalist at Colombia's W Radio, asking for information about Trenaco and/or Alex Saab. The issue at hand was a contract, believed to exceed $7 billion USD, that Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) granted to Trenaco through subsidiary PetroMiranda. Readers of this site may remember my previous investigations into multimillion dollar fraud involving Saab and his Fondo Global de Construcción companies in Venezuela, Ecuador, Malta, Spain and so on.
Sparring with Alex Saab
[DO READ THIS UPDATE] I was meant to have a meeting with Alex Saab on Monday, 25th November. Expectedly, he didn't show up, sending instead a Venezuelan lawyer called Amir Nassar. Nassar came to London to "open a communication channel" with me. He wanted to meet face to face and "get the conversation" going.
[UPDATE] Mapping Alex Saab & Piedad Cordoba
Following the tip of a collaborator, I was able to create the map above. Further information can be seen by either placing the cursor above links between entities, or clicking those links. Try and be precise.
Meet Alex Saab: owner of Fondo Global de Construcción
Good old Setty tweeted the other day about Doing Business in Venezuela. According to its mission, Doing Business is a "project [that] provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across 189 economies and selected cities at the subnational and regional level." Doing Business ranks Venezuela in 181 place, out of 189 economies measured. That is, according to Doing Business there's only 8 other economies in the world where, overall, doing business is worse in every measurable aspect than in Venezuela.